Tag Archives: P&G

In my last story, (link), I had gotten a promotion to Store Manager at the Hamilton Taco Bell and was told that I was the second youngest store manager in the Taco Bell network at the time. My Supervisor, (Larry), had very quickly given me lots of autonomy and lots of authority.

As I’m sitting down to begin writing this week’s story, Christmas has just ended for 2016. This time of the year is associated with a spirit of giving. I’ve always believed that we each receive so much more when we give. As a matter of fact, I received the most memorable switching as a result of giving away a can of my dad’s soup without asking first, (a not so fun memory related to giving – link). But this week’s story about ‘giving’ is a funny memory for me.

Written about in several stories, (like one of my favorites here), I like making people laugh and I’m not above pulling a few pranks on people I like to get those laughs. I would never prank someone that I do not like, that’s just mean and I’m not really into taking advantage of others.

A good laugh at the workplace brings people together. I’ve always felt that and have experienced it many times over the years. The Sanka gag (link) from my foundry days is one of my favorites. Joe didn’t care for it at first, but later admitted that the joke was funny and in the aftermath, he, Rob and myself had an even better relationship. In my experience, when people like, (or at least don’t hate), their workplace and the people there, they are more free to be themselves and therefore they are more productive.

So far I’ve shared stories about pranks at home, at Taco Bell (the famous burn ’em sauce) but none yet from my P&G days. As I am now celebrating my first full year of being unemployed by good old Mother Procter, I’m thinking that today is the day for writing about some of those good times. Continue reading →

April 20, 1987 was a very big day for me as it was my first day of working for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. Several weeks earlier, I had interviewed on campus at the University of Cincinnati. I was an Evening College student majoring in Accounting and set to graduate in June. Eleven years earlier, I had enjoyed my first day at Miami University and almost got to dine with the President, (read me), where I had set out to earn a degree in Mathematics. Once I switched over to Evening College, I knew that earning a Math degree was out of the question and so I chose Accounting – hey, it’s got numbers, right? When I interviewed for P&G, they had their own standardized test for the applicants to take. I recall it having a lot of algebra and a lot of questions you see on those online IQ tests. It was one of those times when I left the test feeling like I hadn’t missed a single question – I knew I had aced that puppy! Continue reading →